| Rachel and I just returned from our "9th Anniversary Motorcycle Ride" through Bavaria, Austria, and the Czech Republic. We spent the last two days covering 485 miles (some intended and some not so intended) of countryside. The leaves (I had to look this up - leaves is plural for leaf; why not leafs?) are just starting to change to a shade of yellow, so it was great to get out before it gets "too" cold. Rachel was a real trooper in riding on the back of the bike for so long, and my bike is no GoldWing dream for the passenger. Other than the occasional freaking-out grab of my sides (I see the semi coming right for us babe, I got it), it all went well. So, I powered up my GPS (below) and we got going. The GPS worked pretty well - it didn't short out during the brief rain that we hit, but it can't really "zoom in" like I'd like either. 
We started off on Thursday morning heading for the Bavarian National Forest in SE Germany. We stopped in a little town for a pizza and were possible the only living people there other than the restaurant lady (I have no idea where German people go during the day). We then continued South to Passau. We crossed over the Danube River and headed east while riding along the Danube. It reminded me of the Ohio River as we saw a lot of barges going up and down the river that was lined with wooded hills. Other than the occasional castle (one below) and lack of double wide trailers, not sure what the differences would be. Well, come to think of it, some Ohioans probably think of their trailer as "their castle," so maybe I was in Ohio? Anyway, easily the prettiest part of our route, and I wish we could do it again at a little slower pace (the end of the day causes an urgency to find food/bed/getting butt off motorcycle seat). 
We then hit Linz (where Hitler considered his home town), Austria, which is Austria's third largest town. I tell you what, if you've never toured the "industrial district" of your nearest large town during rush hour, I highly encourage it. Now since America actually uses a lot of street signs, act like those aren't there, and try to find one specific road. It's awesome fun. That adventure put us on the Austrian autobahn, but that allowed us to figure out where we were and where we needed to go. So, we headed north towards the Czech Republic and we finally found a hotel (below). It is in the second to last town in Austria, so we were willing to take about anything (I'm no longer allowed to plan trips that have a "we'll just find a place" plan for lodging). The downstairs and restaurant were really nice so we expected that of the room. Well, let's just say the last renovation the room had was circa 1960. But what can you expect from a 250 year old hotel (older than America)? We had a good dinner, walked around the town for a bit, headed back to the room and I think we were asleep before we hit the bed. 
What did we wake up to? Bells. The bells in this church matter of fact (below). Turns out that the bells don't stop ringing at night. One bell at :15, two at :30, three at :45 and four at :60 followed by a different bell tone corresponding with the time of day/night. So, we woke up pretty much every hour all night. Sometime shortly after going to bed, we opened the windows, but a group of old men were having a good time below our window. We thought about me reenacting Charles Ingles (you had to be a "Little House" fan to get this) rant at the people in the saloon when he couldn't sleep in his new place in Mankato (or was it Sleepy Eye? sp? = either way Charles, what do you expect sleeping near a saloon?). We passed and since we fell asleep so quick anyway, it didn't matter. 
This morning we got on the road after washing down a traditional German/Austrian breakfast of kaiser roll and lunch meat (breakfast meat I guess but I couldn't tell you the difference). We headed for the boarder and entering Czech was like entering a different world - from sunny to cloudy and gray and from everything being nice and maintained to a much poorer people. While you could stop off at many places and buy the latest knock off shirts, bags and watches, the buildings and people suffered under the rule of the Soviets and they are still trying to recover. Part of that is not having dang street signs. I'd like to donate to that fund. They don't see the need to tell you more than once what route the road is. That caused for a slight wrong turn which added a bit to our trek as we rode through the Czech side of the Bavarian National Forest - called the Sumava National Park. I did enjoy this part of the ride and the people/buildings were almost as interesting to see as the landscape. In Europe, the churches are very well maintained and the source of a town's pride; not so in Czech. We did see this neat "castle" - not really sure what it's purpose is. Rachel stayed on the bike in case we needed to make a quick get away. 
After about an hour in Czech, we hit some heavy fog (at noon mind you) and the temperature got a bit cold. Even after layering up some more, Rachel couldn't shake the chill. We cut our Czech adventure a bit short and took an early pass over the mountains back into Germany, and, just as we left it, the sun was shining on the German side. We stopped shortly thereafter for lunch at a Chinese place, and the Won Ton soup really warmed us up. As you see, Rachel really needed it. 
Anyway, great ride in beautiful country. Thanks to Rachel's folks for watching the girls. It is always great to get time alone with the love of my life, and riding is what we love to do together. A few close calls maybe, but never in serious danger and we've now ridden the motorcycle on both the German and Austrian autobahn! |
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